Ferdinand Marian

Ferdinand Heinrich Johann Haschkowetz (14 August 1902 – 7 August 1946), known by the stage name Ferdinand Marian, was an Austrian actor. Though a prolific stage actor in Berlin and a popular matinée idol throughout the 1930s and early '40s, he is best remembered for playing the lead role of Joseph Süß Oppenheimer in the notorious Nazi propaganda film Jud Süß (1940).

Ferdinand Marian
Born
Ferdinand Heinrich Johann Haschkowetz

(1902-08-14)14 August 1902
Vienna, Austria-Hungary
Died7 August 1946(1946-08-07) (aged 43)
Pulling, Allied-occupied Germany
OccupationActor
Spouses
  • Irene Saager
  • Maria Byk

Early life and career

Born in Vienna, the son of an opera singer, Marian turned to the stage early, though he never attended any drama classes. He ran away from home and abandoned his studies as an engineer to work as an extra at several Austrian and German theatres. In 1938 he joined the ensemble of the Deutsches Theater in Berlin, where he was acclaimed for his performance as Iago in Shakespeare's Othello.

Marian had also appeared in movies like Curtis Bernhardt's Der Tunnel since 1933, and had his breakthrough starring together with Zarah Leander in 1937's La Habanera, directed by Douglas Sirk. His role as the suave but amoral Don Pedro Avila added to his image as an adorable but devious womanizer.

Jud Süß

Marian's career was overshadowed by his appearance as the title character in Jud Süß, an antisemitic German movie directed by Veit Harlan. This 1940 film, made under the supervision of Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, is widely considered to be one of the most hateful depictions of Jews in film. Several top stars had rejected the title role; Marian, urged by Goebbels and fearing consequences by the Reichsfilmkammer, did not dare to refuse.

His depiction of the title character followed Nazi propaganda stereotypes of Jews as being materialistic, immoral, cunning and untrustworthy. With the exception of Marian's character – who shaved off his beard and wore Gentile attire for most of the story – the actors playing Jewish male characters were made up to look unappealing and alien (non-German). There were also scenes that purported to show Jewish religious services, which were in fact largely fabricated by the filmmakers.

The film was a great success, both commercially and ideologically. Heinrich Himmler ordered that the film be shown to SS units about to be sent against Jews, to non-Jewish populations of areas where Jews were about to be deported, and to concentration camp guards.[1] Stefan Baretzki, a guard at Auschwitz concentration camp, later said that after they were shown Jud Süß and similar films, guards would beat up Jewish prisoners the next day.[2]

Marian's willing participation in Jud Süß and his belief in its message remains contentious. During his lifetime he was considered apolitical, never holding membership in any political party or expressing support for Nazism. His personal life seemingly contradicted the antisemitism of his best-known role. He had a daughter from his first marriage to Jewish pianist Irene Saager. His second wife's former husband Julius Gellner was also Jewish and Marian and his wife protected him from reprisals by hiding him in their home.[3]

Friedrich Knilli, author of the Marian biography Ich war Jud Süß – Die Geschichte des Filmstars Ferdinand Marian ('I was Jud Suss - The Story of the Movie Star Ferdinand Marian') indicated that Marian was at minimum pressured and at maximum coerced by Goebbles into participating in the film, which he had initially considered distasteful,[4] through implicit threats against his family.[5] Knilli's assertions match those of director Veit Harlan, who claimed in a war crimes trial that he was coerced by Goebbles into making the film, and attempted to minimize or sanitize the antisemitic elements to little avail.[4][5][6][7]

According to Knilli, Marian never came to terms with his involvement in the film, and the guilt lead to a spiraling pattern of alcoholism that dominated his later life.[5][8]

Later roles

The same year as Jud Süß, Marian starred in another propaganda film directed by Veit Harlan, Ohm Krüger. The film was a biopic of Boer political leader Paul Kruger, and portrayed the British as the villains of the Second Boer War, with Marian playing British mastermind Cecil Rhodes. The film co-starred Emil Jannings and Gustaf Gründgens, who both had rejected the role of Jud Süß the year before.

In 1943 he starred as Cagliostro in Josef von Báky's fantasy comedy Münchhausen, in Romance in a Minor Key, in Tonelli. His last film role was in Das Gesetz der Liebe (1945).

Death

Marian died in a road accident in 1946 near the village of Dürneck (today part of Freising) in Bavaria, probably driving under the influence of alcohol. It is said that he was on his way to Munich with a borrowed car to collect denazification papers that with the permission of US film officer Eric Pleskow would allow him to work again, having celebrated this news just beforehand. Friedrich Knilli suggested the death was suicide, as Marian had been unable to cope with his participation in Jud Süß.

Marian is played by Tobias Moretti in the 2010 film Jew Suss: Rise and Fall, a biopic about the production and release of Jud Süß, based on Friedrich Knilli's biography.

The film takes many liberties with the true story, fictionalizing Marian's personal life by combining his two wives into a single character, and expanding the role of Julius Gellner (renamed 'Wilhelm Adolf Deutscher').

Filmography

References
  1. Leiser, Erwin (1974). Nazi Cinema. New York. pp. 84–85. ISBN 978-0-02-570230-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  2. Tegel, Susan (2011). Jew Suss: Life, Legend, Fiction, Film. London: A&C Black. p. 245. ISBN 978-1-4411-1552-2.
  3. Jud Süss Film Reference, retrieved on September 26, 2010.
  4. Fox, Jo (1 July 2000). Filming Women in the Third Reich. Oxford: Berg. p. 162. ISBN 978-1-85973-396-7. Retrieved 14 June 2012.
  5. Nelson, Anne (7 April 2009). Red Orchestra: the story of the Berlin underground and the circle of friends who resisted Hitler. New York: Random House Digital, Inc. p. 234. ISBN 978-1-4000-6000-9. Retrieved 28 October 2011.
  6. Rentschler, Eric (1996). The ministry of illusion: Nazi cinema and its afterlife. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. p. 166. ISBN 978-0-674-57640-7. Retrieved 28 October 2011.
  7. Škvorecký, Josef. "JUD SÜSS". Retrieved 30 October 2011.
  8. Knopp, Guido (25 July 2003). Hitler's women. New York: Psychology Press. p. 228. ISBN 978-0-415-94730-5. Retrieved 28 October 2011.
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